By: Melanie Berkowitz, Esq.
When Bill Clinton ran for President in 1992, his campaign advisor wrote him a now-famous to-do list, reminding him to focus on “the economy, stupid.” The third item on that list? “Don’t forget healthcare.” Seventeen years later, we still haven’t forgotten.
In fact, $59 billion of the $787 billion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA or the Recovery Act) is allocated for health-related projects and programs, and that’s not even counting an additional $87 billion for Medicaid relief. The hope for this money is three-fold:
- Infuse billions of dollars into the economy
- Create new jobs
- Improve the quality and availability of healthcare for millions of Americans
The time is right for healthcare employers to think about how to get some of those funds. The Federal government has announced its intention to spend 64% of its fiscal year Recovery Act money for healthcare. Keep in mind, the fiscal year ends on September 30, 2009. While the first disbursement of health money was spent on Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage grants (FMAP), a sizeable amount of money is available for research, health IT, local community health programs and more.
The money is there, but employers cannot sit back and expect it to come to them. They need to think about their agendas, get educated about opportunities and start planning for the coming months. Don’t delay: the government will allocate billions to healthcare in the next 12 months, but by 2012, only 1% of Recovery Act spending will be for health-related programs.
Are you a healthcare employer interested in getting Recovery Act money? Here is what you should be doing now.
Understand ARRA’s Plans for Healthcare
Employers need to understand how healthcare dollars will be spent -- and by whom -- so they can identify the best opportunities. ARRA healthcare spending can be roughly divided into three categories:
- Healthcare IT
- Improving and preserving healthcare/community health centers
- Funding for research
These categories open up an enormous range of opportunities at both the Federal and state level. A review of the HHS Recovery website suggest that projects and jobs will be available for medical professionals and technicians, lab workers, clinicians, researchers, medical educators and a wide variety of computer professionals and technicians, to name just a few.
Some of the money has already been allocated to specific recipients for community health centers. Going forward, these health centers may need to hire new workers or purchase and install new equipment in the coming months; local providers of such services should view this list as one of opportunity. Much of the money is still up for grabs, though -- the task is to figure out how to ask for it.
Knowing How to Ask for Funding
Whether you want funding for a specific research project or money to overhaul the electronic records database for an entire health system, make sure you understand the criteria for distributing funds.
“Do your homework before seeking funds,” advises Dr. Jim Cato, Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer for health IT company Eclipsys. He suggests that employers designate or hire a key employee to become a “Recovery Act expert” for their organization. Having such a person on staff will help healthcare entities navigate the complex requirements of bidding for Recovery Act dollars.
And in the health field, there is a lot to learn. Awards for research grants and contracts and IT projects depend on specific criteria. Until recently, uncertainty about how those criteria would be applied made healthcare employers wary about seeking funding. In response, the government has started to issue guidelines for awarding funds. Employers cannot ignore these guidelines if they hope to succeed in winning competitive bids.
For example, in June, HHS issued a report of recommendations for how the agency should spend money for “comparative effectiveness research” -- a term that had stumped many potential applicants. “No one was sure what CER meant, and the uncertainty prevented our members from bidding on grants,” says Tracy Goode, Vice President of Member Activities for the American College of Chest Physicians, a medical association. The new report recommends four criteria for all CER projects. Physicians with a broad variety of research interests can now focus on creating grant requests that meet these standards.
There are also opportunities for well-informed health IT companies and the medical facilities they advise. “With the availability of Recovery Act money, a lot of hospitals are speeding up their plans for instituting computerized provider order entry (CPOE) and other electronic medical records (EMR) projects,” says Cato.
Similar to CER, there has been confusion about the eligibility of projects that show “meaningful use” of EMR . “No one wanted to implement a healthcare IT project that didn’t meet the definition of ‘meaningful use,” explains Cato. In June, HHS issued its first in a series of guidelines for employers on implementing an EMR project.
The opportunity here is twofold. Health IT companies should become familiar with “meaningful use” standards and share that knowledge with their clients to develop conforming EMR projects. In turn, hospitals and health systems can receive Recovery Act money to help pay for the improvements.
Finding the Funding
Armed with the right knowledge, employers can focus their efforts on where the money is. “To find opportunities, look to where most of the money is going right now -- to the states,” says Gail Wilensky, Senior Fellow at Project Hope, President of the Defense Health Board and former Director of Medicare. She suggests that employers look at the projects and programs funded by their state health departments; opportunities for smaller employers should be available there.
Online government resources can be a source of opportunity as well, including postings on fedbizopps.gov and in the Federal Register, where the government publishes new funding opportunities, guidances and other information. Designating a single employee as gatekeeper helps ensure that all relevant information is captured.
Don’t forget to look to industry experts, either. “Our members have been a good source of ideas for funding opportunities,” adds Goode. One good example: now that HHS has recommended guidelines for CER funding, doctors and research scientists may be looking for partnerships to pursue funds.